FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS OF PHOTOVOLTAIC FACILITIES FOR HOUSEHOLD ELECTRICITY SELF-CONSUMPTION IN EXTREMADURA

Abstract

The cost of photovoltaic installations has dropped sharply during the last years. At the same time, the price of electricity in Spain has increased just as sharply. This means that grid parity is now a real possibility, and that, if suitable policies are promoted, self-consumption is economically feasible in Spain in general and in Extremadura in particular, since this is a region with high levels of solar radiation. In this paper, the economic feasibility of self-consumption in single-family houses in Extremadura is analysed. The methodological approach is based on the definition of a type-home, and then on the sizing and profitability analysis of a photovoltaic installation by considering different scenarios. The results were confirmed with the analysis of seven real houses. They indicate that grid parity will occur soon, especially when net metering is taken into account. In particular, for the less optimistic scenarios, self-consumption with sale of the surplus energy and with net metering should be profitable in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The analysis also indicates that if the Spanish Government were to approve the so-called “support toll” then the profitability of photovoltaic systems would be severely hit, and it would be necessary to wait until 2016 for the installations to be viable with a certain guarantee of profitability.